1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an apparatus for reproducing a recording medium such as a DVD etc. in which recorded data and recording medium side reproduction restriction information for restricting the reproduction of the recorded data is recorded.
2. Related Art
As disclosed in the Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. Hei 11-110914, a region management number (hereinafter merely called as “a region code”) as the recording medium side reproduction restriction information is recorded in advance within the video manager information management table of TOC (table of contents) in a DVD. In correspondence with this, in a conventional DVD reproduction apparatus, a player region code as apparatus side reproduction restriction information related to the region code is recorded in advance within a system parameter storage memory.
The region code and the player region code can not be rewritten freely on a user side.
The conventional DVD reproduction apparatus is arranged in the following manner. That is, the apparatus reads the player region code from the system parameter storage memory before reproducing the recorded data from a DVD. On the other hand, the apparatus reads a region code from the DVD, then compares the player region code with the region code thus read and determines whether the reproduction of the recorded data is to be allowed or not based on the comparison result. When it is determined that the reproduction of the recorded data is not allowed, that is, when it is determined that an improper DVD which reproduction is restricted in this DVD reproduction apparatus (hereinafter merely called as “an improper DVD”) is set, the reproduction of the recorded data is stopped. At the time of stopping the reproduction, the conventional DVD reproduction apparatus is arranged to display “error indication” on an image display apparatus such as a TV receiver etc. (hereinafter called as “a TV receiver” as the representative of the image display apparatuses) coupled to the DVD reproduction apparatus.
Of course, the conventional DVD reproduction apparatus starts the reproduction of a DVD when a proper DVD which reproduction is not restricted in this DVD reproduction apparatus (hereinafter merely called as “a proper DVD”) is set.
[Problems to be Solved]
However, there are cases that a region number display mark for managing a reproducible region (hereinafter called as “a region No. display mark”) corresponding to a region code of a DVD is described and not described on a package for the DVD. Further, there are cases that a region No. display mark is described and not described on a DVD within a package. Furthermore, there is a case that a proper DVD is not housed within a package, that is, a region code of the DVD within the package does not correspond to a region No. display mark of the package.
Thus, when reproducing a proper DVD in a conventional DVD reproduction apparatus, there arises no problem since recorded data can be reproduced as it is. However, at the time of reproducing a DVD when a user does not know that the DVD is an improper one, there arise following problems, for example.
In the conventional DVD reproduction apparatus, when an improper DVD is tried to be reproduced, although an error indication is displayed on a TV receiver as described above, the region code of the DVD is not displayed. Thus, the user can not know or understand the reason why the DVD is not reproduced merely from seeing the error indication displayed on the TV receiver.
Further, when a region No. display mark is not described on both an improper DVD and the package thereof, a user can not know what is the region code of the improper DVD.
In the case where a region No. display mark is not described on a DVD even if the region No. display mark is described on the package of the DVD, a user also cannot know what is the region code of the improper DVD when the user loses the package.
Further, even if a package is not lost, when a region No. display mark is described on the package of a DVD but not described on the DVD and a proper DVD is not housed within the package, a user also cannot know what is the region code of the improper DVD. This is because the region code of the DVD does not correspond to the player region code of a DVD reproduction apparatus used for reproduction after all even if the region No. display mark of the package corresponds to the player region code.
Further, in the case where a proper DVD is not housed within the package and a region No. display mark is described on each of a DVD and the package thereof, the region No. display mark on the DVD may be correct if the region No. display mark of the DVD does not correspond to the player region code of a DVD reproduction apparatus used for reproduction. However, in view of such a circumstance that the region No. display mark of the package does not correspond to the region No. display mark of the DVD housed within the package, it is doubtful whether the region No. display mark of the DVD is correct. In other words, a user also cannot be convinced what is the region code of the improper DVD.
In these cases, since the region code is unknown, even when an improper DVD is intended to be re-soled, such a DVD can not be re-soled suitably since a resalable region of the DVD is unknown.
Even when considering the aforesaid matters only for Japan, the following problems etc. may occur due to the present circumstances of the globalization. That is, there arises a problem when a person living in Japan travels abroad, then erroneously purchases a DVD in which a region code corresponding to Japan is not recorded and tries to reproduce the DVD in Japan by using a DVD reproduction apparatus specified for Japan. There also arises a problem when an import trader erroneously imports a DVD having a region code different from Japan and a user purchases the DVD. In this manner, there may arise more problems in the world as compared in Japan.
Accordingly, a major object of the invention is to provide a recording medium reproduction apparatus which is arranged in a manner that a user can confirm reproduction restriction information of a recording medium in which recorded data and the reproduction restriction information for restricting the reproduction of the recorded data is recorded.